Kamen Rider: New World War
by Eyeshield
Summary: The Rider War granted one wish, free of consequences, to the winner of the brutal contest. That wasn't entirely true. While our would never remember the War, the aftermath would unfold and would forever be remembered in another. Welcome to the World of Remnant... Kamen Riders.


_Hello everyone. I seem to have come back after… well, some amount of time. Will I ever update anything else? GOD I HOPE SO._

_I seem to keep having these great ideas enter my head for whatever bloody reason, but I CAN'T WRITE THEM. I seized this idea like a drowning man before it left my head, so here it is. _

_Kamen Rider Ryuki and RWBY. I'm… I'm not even sure if this'll be a one-shot or not, but here it is folks: A crossover between these two._

_Have fun!_

_*The properties seen here are not owned by me, only the plot*_

_START_

_EDIT: This Underwent a MASSIVE EDIT. Please read this first. I don't know how soon I'll post the next chapter, but I can assure you that this is a SERIES now! After reflecting on what I've been doing, plus the disappointment with the volume 2 finale, I pushed myself to improve a lot more and think on how to better apply the themes of Ryuki, as you can see here. Yes, what I did with the Arc Words was intentional, as you'll see later. _

_See you next time guys!_

* * *

_Legends. Stories mankind recalls so fondly, epic tales and sagas that are__told again and again. Fables of great confrontations, climactic battles, heroes and villains and monsters. Man would forever remember these stories and continue to tell them till the end of time._

_Yet sometimes, the greatest stories are never told. They are forgotten, erased from the annals of history._

_It's fitting that they ended up in this world. That's what they are in the end: Remnants. Pieces and byproducts of a forgotten past, lost to the rivers of time._

_Not this time. Their mere presence would change the world forever, and their time here would never be forgotten._

_Here in this strange new world, their secret story begins again._

* * *

Taking a nap in a forest usually isn't a good idea. There's the problem of finding a good sleeping spot, then the possibility of being mobbed by dangerous creatures even before waking up.

And yet here, in this forest of giant trees, leaning against an aged trunk, was a man slowly waking from a nap.

"Ughhh…" the man groaned, blinking groggily as he opened his eyes. He was so tired. He didn't even know how long he slept.

All he could do was open his eyes, raise his head, and wake up.

"Itete… What happened?" he winced, trying to gather himself. His eyes slightly widened as he took in his surroundings.

He didn't ever remember ending up here. But it definitely was a beautiful sight: Surrounded on all sides by trees taller than buildings, the light of the setting sun shining down.

"Oyy… Where am I? How did I get here?" He said to himself as he tried to stand. The man struggled to remember what happened, and his eyes widened as a distinct possibility entered his mind.

"Am I… Am I dead?" he thought to himself. An odd thought to have, but it made sense from his perspective. Such scenery was definitely reminiscent of death, an endless forest without any sign of an exit, and he did remember the last thing that happened before he got here.

A pain wracking his entire body. His back lying against the car, life-giving blood leaving his body and painting everything around it red.

He looked at clothes, caked with dried spatters of blood. He felt around his mouth, and wiped away traces of the red liquid that clung to his lips. He could even feel a slight draft of wind coming from his back where the fatal strike landed.

Perhaps most oddly, he didn't feel any pain at all.

"So I'm dead..."

He said it in a strangely serene manner. Shinji felt it was a good death protecting others and winning one last battle, and his last memory was wishing his best friend onward.

"Yeah... If it's him, he can do it," he said with a smile. He closed his eyes and made himself comfortable. "Well... I guess can rest here..."

And so it was that Shinji Kido, a man who lived to protect others, decided to go to sleep.

He didn't know how long he closed his eyes, but what made him open them again was an overwhelming sense of danger that made shocked him awake.

That was when he saw those monsters.

They were dark, canine creatures. Their fur was pure ebony, and their claws gleamed in the moonlight. On their faces were, of all things, masks with the only openings being crimson eyes that gave off an eerie red glow, something strangely familiar.

And all of them were walking towards him very slowly.

_'What the hell are those things?! Heaven shouldn't have things like... THAT!'_

It was then another frightening possibility entered his head.

_'Maybe... Maybe this is hell?'_ It wasn't something people wanted to think of or even consider. Shinji would usually be one of them, but recent memories made him wonder.

_'I failed to protect so many... I nearly became a killer...' _As the last days of the Rider War played again in his mind, he bitterly acknowledged that, for all the good that he did, it would never make up for the lives that he couldn't save, and those that he himself would have taken if he lived on.

_'... Yeah. I deserve this.' _As the strange demons came closer and closer, he resigned himself to his fate. '_Do your worst. I deserve all of it.'_

Facing his death head-on, he didn't close his eyes as the sharp claws came down on him.

Red entered his vision, and the sick sound of bodies being torn apart echoed in his ears. But it wasn't his blood being spilled, nor his body being sliced to pieces. He could only stare in awe at the sight in front of him.

A crimson cape and a storm of rose petals. A gigantic scythe, curved, wickedly sharp.

An angel of death, standing between him and eternal torment.

* * *

The Emerald Forest was usually off-limits to all Beacon students once night fell. Not only was vision decreased, Grimm activity heightened due to humanity's natural aversion to the dark. Coupled with them blending in perfectly due to their black hides, the Grimm were at their deadliest in the dark of the night.

Predictably, a certain team of girls was treading through the woods at this dark hour.

"See anything weird yet girls?" Ruby asked her teammates as they walked through the darkness.

"Nothing significant," Weiss replied frustratedly. "We've seen nothing but Beowolves throughout our entire exploration of this part of the forest, and only young ones at that." The corpses that were dissolving behind them were only of cubs, little monsters that were barely any taller than they were, a far cry from what was usually expected of mankind's worst enemy.

"What do you think happened?" Blake asked the rest of the team. "It couldn't have been a Hunter, since there are cameras everywhere in this forest and unless he had a stealth Semblance or was REALLY good at sneaking they wouldn't have gotten through every blind spot."

"What else could it be though?" Yang said, her arms tucked behind her head in a carefree gesture as she walked beside her friends. "At least it makes walks through here easier. We're almost at the temple, and it hasn't even been two hours yet." She shrugged while grinning. "Searching for whatever it is certainly made Friday night a little less boring, I'll admit. And hey, whatever it is, it's making Grimm go away. It couldn't possibly be too bad, would it?"

"Your rather skewed priorities aside," Weiss muttered distastefully, "I can see your point."

Angered howls filled the team's ears, and all of them tensed up and drew their weapons. Ruby turned towards her teammates as she drew her beloved Crescent Rose. "Keep your guard up girls. There seem to be a lot of them this time."

"Same to you then, Ruby," Weiss replied haughtily. "Do remember not to jump in too quickly."

"Never gonna let me live that down, are you?" Ruby groaned. "Whatever, let's just... Do... This..."

As the girls arrived at the clearing, their eyes all widened in horror.

The feral pack was slowly advancing on an injured man, leaning tiredly on the trunk of a tree. There was no sign of resistance or defiance on his face. There was a sense of painful resignation, as though accepting this death.

Without a moment's hesitation or a single word, the girls all charged.

***Scene Break***

Shinji was awestruck at the sight before him.

This strange girl destroyed the demons in front of him in the blink of an eye. Now, she was standing in front of him, and despite her apparent age and the dark horde in front of her, he saw that she showed no fear at all.

She took off, and Shinji's jaw dropped even more as she felled so many more of the cursed spirits effortlessly. She spun her gigantic scythe when she dashed into the pack, cleaving many in two. He could've sworn he saw and heard gunshots as more of the foul beasts died without her even touching them, rocketing her across the battlefield as heads, paws and even torsos were slashed to pieces and flew every which way.

To his surprise, even more strange girls came in, in colors of white, black and yellow. The one in white had a long ponytail on one side of her head, and her clothes were prim and elegant. She was gracefully speeding across the battlefield while stabbing and slashing the creatures with, of all things, a rapier. How coincidental...

And then there was the yellow one, with golden hair that almost seemed to shine in the darkness. Simple gauntlets were in her hands, yet fire would shoot from her fists as she punched or burned the wolves. She was simple and easy to understand, but it was still surreal since he did that himself.

The black one, her hair free except for that tiny bow on the top of her head was the one he simply could not comprehend: One moment has her slicing through the creatures with a single sword, the next would have her armed with two, and then all logic simply leaves when she would suddenly have a pistol tied to a ribbon, swinging it around like a kusarigama while firing shots.

From an entire pack, the wolves dwindled to nothing, and the clearing was filled with evaporating bodies as the beasts slowly disappeared into the ether.

_'Are they Shinigami?'_ Shinji thought to himself. _'They have to be. They look so young, but they're as strong as Riders… Better than some of them even…'_

It was then that they turned to him, and began discussing something he couldn't hear. He felt something sink to the bottom of his stomach as he saw their conversation. They were shinigami. It was up to them to judge whether he'd be out of here or not, and the judgment he had coming for him looked very poor.

He couldn't even begin to hope for the best.

***Scene Break***

"Well, so much for not jumping into line of fire, ey Weiss?"

As the battle ended, Yang took the time to make one last quip at her sister's expense. Ruby sheepishly rubbed the back of her head, while Weiss groaned. "Every now and then, I suppose there are times when impulsiveness is the best option."

"We have someone else to worry about right now Wiess," Blake said, reminding them of where they were. She inclined her head towards the hapless civilian, staring at them listlessly. "He seems to be in shock."

"We should go check on him." She and the rest of the team went over to the man under the tree. They were all horrified at his condition: His jacket had splotches of blood all over it, and his mouth had traces of red drying out. "Oh gosh, what happened to you mister?! Are you alright?!"

The man became startled at the question, and responded promptly. "Oh, I'm fine. I'm just a little tired."

"It's kind of hard to not worry," Blake pointed out to him, raising an eyebrow at his formal response. "You have a LOT of blood on you right now. I didn't even know Aura could heal anything that bad. If you didn't get it from those Beowolves, where did it come from?"

His face fell at Blake's question. "Some other monsters. I got caught off-guard and well…"

The way he grimaced at his recollection let the other girls know just how much it hurt. The picture was clear to them: He somehow managed to survive an attack from other Grimm, lucky enough that he managed to heal his wounds but unlucky enough to attract this Beowolf pack. Yang waved a hand in front of her to assure him. "No need for the details, we get the gist."

"It's OK, it doesn't hurt anymore," the man said, dismissing their concerns. He then bowed his head as much as he could. "Thank you for saving me back there."

Ruby let out a relieved sigh at his assurances. "It's good to know that you're OK." She sheathed Crescent Rose, startling the man, and introduced herself. "I'm Ruby, and these are my teammates Weiss, Blake and Yang." She gestured to each of her teammates, with Weiss rolling her eyes, Blake giving a slight nod and Yang giving a small wave of her hand and a 'yo'. What's your name mister?"

"It's Shinji. Shinji Kido." He replied formally.

"Well Shinji, we can wait until you're ready to leave," Ruby said cheerfully. "Once you're rested up, we can get you out of here."

Shinji widened his eyes at Ruby's words. He seemed to have been shocked at the answer. "You're taking me out of here?"

"Why wouldn't we?" Weiss asked him rhetorically. "It's not like we can leave you behind."

"Bu I deserve to be left behind."

The way he said it was so quiet, and so sad and painful that the girls were all caught off-guard. "What?"

"Why did you save me?" He asked them, and his voice sounded confused, painful and broken. "I failed to protect people... And I almost became a murderer... Why didn't you leave me behind?"

Ruby stared wide-eyed at the man's confession, while Weiss narrowed her eyes in suspicion and tightened her grip on Myrtenaster. "What? What were you doing and why are you here?"

"I was..."

It was then they heard howls in the distance, and several black figures came out of the darkness. Blake turned towards her leader, urging her on quickly. "We have to fend them off before they get too close."

"You can leave me behind..." they heard him say, sounding as though he'd lost all hope. "I deserve it."

Ruby looked at the man, seeing his eyes seem so dead on the inside, and everything about him screaming pain and regret. He didn't seem like a bad person at all, nothing like the murderer he made himself out to be. She couldn't let him stay like this.

How could they save him if he didn't want to save himself?

Ruby compacted Crescent Rose, turning towards her teammates and inclining her head towards the pack. "You girls go on ahead. I'll catch up after a bit."

"Excuse me?" Weiss raised an incredulous eyebrow at her partner and leader. "Ruby, this man just admitted to nearly murdering others. How could we possibly leave you alone with him?"

Yang saw the look on her sister's face and grinned. "Don't worry about it Ice Queen. Just leave this guy with Ruby, she'll take care of it."

Blake took note of Yang's reaction and decided to trust her partner. "Alright then. We'll leave it to you Ruby."

"You can't-!" Weiss couldn't stop the other half of team RWBY from leaving. She saw the seriousness on Ruby's face, and sighed. "Very well then. Be careful Ruby. Don't take too long."

Ruby smiled at her partner, happy at both the concern and the newfound trust. "Thanks Weiss. That's all I need. Don't worry, I won't take too long."

"See that you don't." With that, Weiss sped off to join the battle, thrusting her rapier into a Beowolf as she arrived. Ruby then kneeled down, making her face level with the man's. His only response was a look of confusion.

"What are you doing? Don't your friends need your help?"

Ruby grinned cheerfully at him. "Well, not really. I'm catching up, but they can deal with those Grimm on their own." She looked sternly at him. "You know Shinji, whether or not you're as bad as you think you are, we still have to get you out of here so we can find out what you did."

Shinji paled for a moment, then let out a defeated, resigned sigh. "So I can be punished, right?"

"Maybe," she admitted. But then she grinned at him, and spoke with all the innocence of the child she was. "I stayed behind because I just wanted to say that I don't think you're as bad as you think you are."

At her reply, Shinji stared at her with wide eyes. "What? But why? You heard what I did! I don't deserve to get out of here."

"The way you said it, you sounded like you didn't actually kill anybody, and you didn't want to," she pointed out gently. "And if you failed to protect people… That only means you tried to, right?"

Shinji became silent as he slowly lowered his head towards the forest floor, as though he never even considered it. "That's… Yeah, that's true…" He looked at the little girl gratefully, a small smile on his face. "Thank you Ruby-chan."

Ruby smiled at Shinji's reply. "No need to thank me Shinji. Just sit tight and wait there. We'll get you out of here soon."

Saying all that she could say, Ruby drew her scythe and dashed off, leaving falling rose petals and a quiet Shinji in her wake.

***Scene Break***

Shinji felt a spark of hope rekindle in him as he thought about what Ruby said.

Maybe he wasn't such a failure after all. He did do his best to protect people, and he did save some… Plus, in the end, he didn't kill anybody, right? He had a good run, he supposed.

He was thankful for the thoughtful spirit's words. Maybe he had a chance to have a peaceful rest after all.

"Yeah, this'll be a good afterlife with people like her around," he said to himself. He then stood up to better focus on the battle in front of him. Now that he wasn't resigning himself to eternal hell, Shinji marveled at the skill and power the girls displayed as they fought off those rabid wolves, feral bears and armored boars. In mere minutes, piles of evaporating black bodies were on the forest floor, and the girls were all ready to leave. "Well. I guess I'd better catch up."

And then his thoughts froze when he heard a sound he thought he'd never hear again.

The echoing of ringing glass. A sound resonating through his mind, overloading his brain and filling it with dread.

_'No… No, no, no, it can't be, they're here too?!'_

He quickly scanned the clearing to find the source, and his mouth widened in horror when he laid his eyes on what he saw.

A small strand of silk, coiling around Ruby's neck.

***Scene Break***

"And that's a wrap."

Yang stretched and let out a relieved sigh among the smoky corpses of the fallen Grimm. The rest of the girls finished up as well, gathering towards her. She turned towards her sister to ask her a question that was on her mind since before this battle. "So sis, gotta ask, what were you talking about with our guy a while ago?"

Ruby folded up Crescent Rose and attached it to the back of her hip, smiling easily at her sister's question. "He seemed really hurt by whatever happened to him before, so I just told him that I don't think he's as bad as he thinks he is."

Weiss raised an eyebrow at Ruby's explanation. "You assured a man who you know nothing about? Ruby, you need to be more careful with yourself! Couldn't you have done that, I don't know, once we know for sure that he isn't possibly a criminal?"

"Well, from a practical standpoint it makes sense," Blake pointed out helpfully. "If he was so self-recriminating, it would've been difficult getting him out of the forest as he'd be more prone to getting himself hurt or left behind. Now, he's actually motivated to keep moving on."

Weiss thought about Blake's words and accepted the proposition. "Hmm… That certainly did remove an annoyance. But Ruby isn't one for such logical thinking…"

"Hey, I too can do logical!" Ruby said with an aggrieved pout. "I told that to him because I really didn't think he was that bad. He said that he almost became a murderer, and failing to protect people only means he tried. Plus, it didn't really sound like he wanted any of that to happen. Even if he did do something that bad, he clearly regrets what he did! Doesn't he deserve a second chance?"

Blake paused and gave a curious look towards Ruby, one that held some fondness as her words struck Blake's heart more than she knew. There was a reason she was drawn to this girl the night she really began to know her. "Well, I guess that's true."

Yang was very much the same, having the same proud smile that she wore when she saw her sister leading all of them to safety during the initiation. "That's my sis."

Weiss huffed at her partner's naivete, but it was easy to tell that she was a little endeared by it. "Of course you would think that."

Ruby rubbed the back of her head sheepishly at the praise. "Ehh, you're all making me blush. Let's just get out of here already." She was about to start walking when a sudden shiver went up her spine. Her hands went towards her neck, and something felt very wrong as she touched it.

Yang noticed Ruby's behavior and tilted her head in confusion. "Ruby? Everything OK?"

"I feel really cold all of a sudden," Ruby said, somewhat alarmed. "It feels like there's something icky around my neck and…"

"RUBY-CHAN!"

All the girls whipped their heads towards Shinji's shout, and found him running straight towards them. "Shinji?! What's going o-"

Ruby went wide-eyed as Shinji dove straight for her and tackled her, both of them landing in a heap on the ground. He got off her and checked her, his face full of alarm. "Ruby-chan, are you alright?!"

"Ughhh..." Ruby groaned as she recovered from the sudden impact. "Shinji? What was that for?"

Shinji sighed in relief and prepared to explain, but was interrupted by the sound of a sword being unsheathed near him, and he saw Weiss glaring at him angrily, flanked by the other two girls. "What are you doing to Ruby?! I should've known you were far too suspicious to trust!"

Shinji met Weiss' anger easily, and where five minutes ago he would've frozen in fear he didn't flinch in the face of her brandished weapon. "You don't understand! Ruby-chan's in danger! Look!"

The other girls still eyed him with suspicion, but then they saw Ruby's expression change from confused to horrified as she looked down towards her neck. To their astonishment, she held her hand and grasped something invisible, and in another moment she seemed to tear it off. Where there was once nothing but air, silken threads revealed themselves before them, held in her shaking hands.

"This stuff was just around my neck..."

"Spider silk?!" Yang's eyes widened in horror. A few more moments, and her little sister would've died right in front of her. "But what's going on, where's it coming from?!"

The girls froze as inhuman shrieks rattled their ears, while Shinji only clenched his teeth. "Try from over there."

Everyone whipped their heads towards the source, and the girls were speechless at what they saw. A giant leg was stabbed into the ground, sticking out from withing the tree. More clawed appendages emerged from within and it soon revealed the vile creature that tried to attack them.

It was a giant spider, twice as tall as any of them. And it certainly looked like a Grimm. It had the same black color, crimson eyes and bone-white mask that defined those monstrosities.

But in the dark depths of her mind, Ruby felt that the monster in front of her wasn't a Grimm.

None of them ever stared at her with such primal hunger in their eyes.

The spider let out an inhuman screech as it charged at the group. Shinji managed to roll out of the way as the girls jumped back, but the spider continued charging straight for Ruby. She evaded the slashes that came as it closed in on her by jumping from side to side. As the arachnid tried to trap her by swinging both of its legs, Ruby drew Crescent Rose, transformed it to its sniper form, and blasted its face. As it screamed in pain, the recoil boosted her to safety as she gracefully flipped through the air. Ruby then converted Crescent Rose to scythe form and planted its blade into the ground as she landed, slowing her slide backwards. Before, the spider could even think of making for her again, she aimed and fired. High-caliber sniper shots pierced its eyes several times more, keeping it making it screech.

It couldn't even move as Weiss and Blake sped past it, boosted by shadows and glyphs. Their blades slashed through its legs and kept it off-balance. Stunned, disoriented and barely able to stand up, it never noticed Yang somersaulting above it and landing on its head. She springboarded off of it while pumping fireballs into its face, smashing it into the ground as she landed with the rest of her team.

Yang glanced back from where she jumped, hoping that the battle was over. She rolled her eyes as the spider twitched its legs and struggled to its feet, snarling in anger. "Well, that would've been way too easy. Got any plans, sis?"

Ruby took stock of the battlefield, worried for Shinji, but she saw him hiding behind a tree. He curled his hand and raised three fingers in a strange gesture, but at the very least he was probably alright. Ruby sighed in relief, then hardened her gaze as she gripped her scythe. "Hit fast, finish hard. Ready?"

The girls didn't need to say a word. All three of her teammates nodded at her in response, and she grinned at them before facing their opponent. She narrowed her eyes and set Crescent Rose behind her.

It screeched at them and charged, and Ruby responded by beginning their assault.

Powered by her Semblance, Ruby zoomed towards the spider, a storm of rose petals in her wake. It raised a clawed leg to impale her, but she leapt above its head and gave a downward slash with Crescent Rose's scythe. With pinpoint precision, right as the muzzle was aimed towards its head, Ruby blasted its face, making the spider screech in pain and propelling Ruby to safety as she landed behind the monstrous arachnid. The spider thought to keep heading for its original target, but bullets hitting its face kept it facing forward. Those bullets were from Blake, running as fast as she could while simultaneously shooting its face with Gambol Shroud. As she neared her opponent, she boosted herself forward with the help of a clone, aiming for its legs. With perfect synchronization, she and Ruby slashed at its legs to keep it off balance, slicing through them and making themselves untouchable with their speed.

Distracted as it was, the spider never saw the blue projectiles heading for its face coming. It flinched and grunted as Weiss sped towards it with the aid of a Glyph, seemingly skating across the battlefield. Revolving Myrtenaster's chamber to White Dust, she concentrated Aura into her blade as she neared her enemy. Right as it tried to strike her once again, she twisted her body, the ballet-like move allowing her to slash and evade the attack at the same time.

The spider shrieked as white smoke erupted from its body and icicles formed all over its body, and at that point it was all over. Weiss gestured with her hand, making a glyph appear on the far side of the battlefield. There stood Yang, her slamming her fists together as she erupted with golden fire. She cocked her weapons and her fists before she was rocketed toward their enemy.

With masterful control, Weiss created glyphs that maximized the impact: One right in front of the spider that boosted Yang upwards as she performed a massive uppercut, and one above her that would blast her down. Yang's fist glowed in the darkness, shining with her Aura, before she was catapulted down.

The spider looked up, and widened its eyes almost comically at the last thing it would ever see.

She crashed into the spider's face with overwhelming force, cratering the ground as she did so. The spider let out one last agonizing shriek as its entire body twitched and twisted every which way. But before long, the movements ceased, and the eight-legged nightmare went limp as it died.

Yang exhaled triumphantly and dusted her hands in relief. "Yeah. Still way too easy."

***Scene Break***

Back from the sidelines, Shinji watched the battle in awe as Ruby and her friends systematically annihilate Dispider in an amazing display of skill and teamwork he'd never seen before.

He supposed he should've expected it. Shinigami WERE powerful beings, and they clearly had to be powerful to save people's souls from demons. He knew they wouldn't need his help to beat Dispider. He simply stayed out of the way and let them handle it. He had no power here, and would only get in the way. He already did his part saving Ruby, so he was fine with staying at the side.

"Shinji!" Ruby's worried voice startled him out of his thoughts, and he faced the girls heading towards him. "Are you alright? Did you get hurt?"

Shinji shook his head amiably. "Nahh. You took it out before it really noticed me."

"That's good." Ruby gave him a winning smile after that. "Thanks for saving me from that thing Shinji. I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't tackled me out of the way."

Shinji rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "It's nothing. If you're getting me out of here, I can't just be a burden can I? Besides, you were the ones that killed it so easily! That was amazing!"

"Please. Compared to what else we've faced, one giant spider was small potatoes," Yang told him. "You were the one that saved my little sister, and that isn't 'just nothing' at all."

"And I suppose I judged you too quickly," Weiss admitted to him. "None of us were able to see its attack coming, but you did. So thank you for that, and I apologize."

Shinji waved off Weiss' apology easily. "No need for that. I judged other people too quickly back then, so I don't exactly have a right to complain."

"That IS a good point though," Blake suggested to the rest of the girls. "What was that thing though? Spider Grimm don't reside in the Emerald, and none of them are known for being invisible. Not only that, like Weiss said, it's like you actually saw its attack coming, but it was happening right in front of us and we didn't see a thing."

The girls pondered that while Shinji shrugged. "I'm not really sure why it's here. I killed it the last time I saw it. I don't know why you couldn't see it." They were shinigami, but he guessed they could be caught off-guard every now and then.

All the girls looked at him, unknowing, with Ruby voicing their confusion first. "You killed that thing before?"

"It was about a year ago when I did, but yeah," he confirmed for Ruby. He then sighed wistfully as he looked up at the night sky. "It's probably a personification of my sins or something... Ah man, never thought I'd see another one of those things after I died..."

Utter silence reigned after Shinji's groans. As it dragged on, Shinji saw all of them looking at him strangely and he raised a curious eye. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

"Not... really," Yang said with some difficulty, trying hard not to offend the guy who saved her sister's life. "Are you SURE you didn't get hit a while ago?"

Shinji gave all of them a confused look. "What are you talking about? I told you that I was perfectly fine!"

"Shinji, you just said that you were dead," Blake told him slowly and carefully. "You kind of aren't. We're here to make sure that you DON'T die."

Shinji gave Blake a blank look at her response. "What? You're joking, right?"

"You aren't dead," Weiss said flatly. "Seriously, what could possibly drive you to that conclusion?!"

None of the girls were expecting Shinji to stare at the ground in confusion, and they immediately knew something was wrong by how lost he sounded. "But... But that doesn't make sense. I was in the city, then I ended up all the way here..."

Ruby became concerned for her savior, her eyes lowering in worry. She remembered his words from before, and wondered if there was a connection. "Shinji, are you alright? Does this have something to do with what you said earlier?" When he lowered his head in painful silence, she pushed on. "What happened before you got here?"

"I was fighting monsters just like the one you saw," he began explaining, surprising all of the girls. "There were so many of them, and they were attacking so many people... I got caught off-guard and well..."

The girls all widened their eyes in horror as Shinji showed them his back. Due to the fact that his back was lying against a tree and the heat of the ensuing battle, they never noticed the bloody gash that that lay there, a fatal line dyeing everything around it a deadly shade of red.

"Oh my gosh..." Ruby cupped her mouth with her hands, her eyes wide with fear. "You had that thing on you this whole time?! Why didn't you say so?!"

"Because it doesn't hurt anymore," he answered a little fearfully. The girls looked at it again, and sure enough the blood around it was dull and dry. Even stranger, they could see the barest hint of skin, but it was smooth and completely untouched. "But it hurt so much when I got it. It hurt just to stand, just to _breathe_. Then, I started feeling so cold, and I could barely see anything. Eventually, my body felt so heavy I couldn't go on anymore. I was just... gone."

Shinji's lowered his gaze as he said those last words. None of the girls knew what to say to him after that. It became even more painful as he looked at them again, a strange desperation in his eyes. "That's how I got here. I woke up, just when you found me. I can't be alive. I just CAN'T."

The girls all looked at him sorrowfully. Ruby looked at him, so hurt and lost like he was when they found him, and didn't know how to help anymore. "Shinji..." She hesitated for a moment, wondering if what she was about to say was right. "I don't know how it happened but you're alive. You have to believe us."

Shinji paled even more at her answer. "But how could that happen? There's just no way that..."

But there was. Shinji widened his eyes in horror as one thought, one terrible thought, entered his mind.

There was no justice in that war. There was only a wish.

The girls all grew concerned as Shinji's eyes became clouded and his shoulders sagged. "No... It can't be..."

Ruby immediately ran up to him, worry welling up within her, and it became even worse when his eyes seemed devoid of color. "Shinji, what's wrong?!"

"IT JUST CAN'T!" He screamed, and he turned to Ruby with fear in his eyes. "Please, tell me I'm dead, tell me this is just a dream, TELL ME IT ISN'T HAPPENING AGAIN!"

Ruby recoiled at his sudden outburst while the other girls immediately tried to calm him down. "Shinji, pull yourself together! This makes no sense for the rest of us, but letting go like this won't help at all!" Blake said, trying to placate him. "Calm down and tell us what's wrong!"

"EVERYTHING'S WRONG!" He cried out in anger. "The monsters, the fighting, people dying, IT'S ALL HAPPENING AGAIN!"

As if the world itself were mocking him, right at that moment, the sound of ringing glass wiped every single thought from his mind again. He froze once again

Shinji's eyes widened in horror, and Ruby grew worried at his response. "Shinji? What's wrong?" He slowly turned his head to the side, and the girls joined him.

They soon found out why.

The body of the spider that they killed barely a few minutes ago started dissolving. But when it did, instead of becoming formless vapors like any other Grimm, the smoke converged into a ball of darkness. The darkness grew and grew, and soon it was double the size of the body that formed it.

Then the the black ball started getting smaller coalescing towards its center and revealing the horror that lied within. Sharpened legs were the bottom numbering eight in all. They were attached to a bulbous sac, bigger and darker in color than before.

Then the nightmare began. Stuck to the front of the sac, where a spider's face was supposed to lie, was a twisted, nightmarish vision of the human body. The torso was covered in a Grimm's bone-white armor. Red lines pulsing like blood covered it, connecting at bloody red nodes with dark spots that look uncannily similar to predatory eyes. Clawed appendages erupted from the back, and they were accompanied by two pincers at its sides.

The worst part was that face. Other Grimm had the feral features of animals, from raging wolves to proud birds. At the very least, it was something that made sense. _At least they had faces._

This... _thing_ had nothing. It was just an empty white mask with red lines, like someone stuck a faceless mannequin head on a human body.

That only made it more wrong when a low, groaning wail came out from its head, sounding to all the world like the call of the damned.

"It can't be!" Weiss shouted, appalled at the noise and shocked at the spider's revival and horrid appearance. "We just killed it, how did it turn into THIS?!"

Blake drew both blades of Gambol Shroud, clenching her weapons tightly. "Whatever it is, it isn't supposed to be here and we have to make sure of that!"

"DON'T TRY!" Shinji shouted from behind them. They all whipped their heads towards him, trembling all over. He sounded so afraid and helpless when he spoke. "Please... This thing is dangerous, you have to believe me! It's stronger than before it died, it's on a whole different level!" He pleaded with them. "Please! You're just kids, just leave me behind and get help, don't die for someone like me!"

"That isn't important!" Ruby said, her resolve unyielding. "I became a Huntress to protect people! We all did! Abandoning you would go against everything we did to get here! So it doesn't matter what you were before! Right now, we're going to protect you!"

The girls dashed off before Shinji could say anything else, dumbstruck as he was at her reply.

***Scene Break***

"You really know how to do leader talk, don't you sis?" Yang commented as they returned to battle.

"Priorities Yang!" Ruby shot back seriously. "Face, now!"

The girls all complied and fired a barrage of shots from all their weapons, aimed directly at the disgusting body stuck on its sac.

It was completely useless. Using its pincers and the limbs on its back, the spider swatted every single projectile away, while the rest bounced harmlessly off its armor. As the attack ended, the spider seemed to glare at the team from behind its faceless mask.

The spider responded to their attack by letting out a storm of spikes from within its eye-nodes. The girls all widened their eyes in surprise at the unexpected form of attack before they all responded in kind. They couldn't evade the projectiles for risk of them hitting Shinji, so Weiss erected a barrier to protect them from the onslaught.

But it wasn't over yet. The spider leapt into the air and tried to crush them. The team immediately leapt to the side at the attack, dodging it easily. They still felt the effects of the impact, as the ground shook at its landing. The spider turned to face them again, letting out its inhuman growl once again.

"What exactly are we fighting?!" Weiss cried out. "First we kill this giant spider which can come out of nowhere, then suddenly it comes back to life and becomes a horrifying amalgamation of man and spider that is bigger and stronger, smart enough to protect its body and even gains the ability to shoot spiked projectiles! What IS this abomination?!"

"Freaky, that's what!" Yang said with a shudder. "Fighting resurrecting spider-zombies that might as well be screaming brains because of how WRONG they look and sound was NOT on my to-do list!"

"Any smart ideas on how to beat this thing Ruby?" Blake asked her leader, her swords at the ready.

Ruby nodded confidently. "Aim for the red nodes Weiss! We'll distract it!" Ruby set Crescent Rose behind her. "Blake!"

"On it!"

Ruby and Blake boosted themselves forward with the help of their semblances and weapons. The spider tried to open fire on them, but Yang shot first, releasing fiery bullets as her teammates sped forward while Weiss gathered power and aimed icy projectiles at their opponent. The spider focused on blocking the shots while trying to impale Ruby and Blake with its claws. They easily evaded the attacks with sniper shots and Shadow boosts, ending up on both sides of the spider for an easy pincer attack. They leapt towards the spider's back, intent on slicing off its extra limbs with a combined slice.

And then, everything went wrong.

The spider used two of its pincers to swat the girls away. When Weiss released her own projectiles, it released its own to counter them. Blake ended up with her team once again, having been smashed forward, while Ruby was hit towards its back. Before she could get up and return to her team, the spider shot a gigantic web ball towards her from behind it, the sticky fluid slamming her and her weapon to the base of a tree trunk and rendering them completely immobile.

"RUBY!" Yang tried to move towards her sister, but the spider shot even more of its spikes towards them. The remaining three members of team RWBY were trapped behind the barrier Weiss made for them.

Things became even worse when, attracted by the sudden spikes of despair from both Shinji and the girls, hordes of Grimm surrounded the remaining girls. As the black monsters converged on them, a small pack appeared on the other side of the clearing, surrounding their leader.

"GODDAMN IT WE HAVE TO GET TO HER NOW!"

Blake held back her frantic partner before she could get herself killed. "Yang, CALM DOWN! Don't lose it and get even more of those things here!" She turned to the last member of her team, the one responsible for their continued survival. "Weiss, how much Aura do you have left?"

"I can hold…" Weiss grit out with some difficulty. "But we need a way to get to Ruby!"

"RUBY-CHAN!"

All three girls instantly turned their heads towards the sudden shout, and saw an unbelievable sight.

It was Shinji, running madly straight for their friend.

***Scene Break***

Shinji stared speechlessly at the ground, Ruby's last words filling his thoughts and completely separating him from the battle nearby.

_"I became a Huntress to protect people!" _

Words so similar to a vow he uttered so long ago. A vow he lived by, declaring them in defiance of a twisted fate. A vow now being echoed to him.

"Ruby-chan… she's the same as me?"

Someone who dedicated their life to protecting others, someone who was just like him, and she was just an innocent little girl.

The thought filled his head, and made him completely oblivious from the fierce battle.

"RUBY!"

Yang's terrified cry and the name of the person she cried out instantly made him whip his head back to the battlefield, and he became horrified at what he saw.

Weiss, Blake and Yang were trapped behind a barrier that Weiss created, surrounded by those monstrous wolves and being shot at by Dispider. If it ever dropped, they would be impaled and mauled. They were helpless to help their lone teammate, separated and in very real danger.

Ruby was hit by Dispider's webbing, struggling to get out. More wolves descended upon her, eager to tear her to pieces and end her life.

Shinji's didn't even know he was moving. All he knew was that he bolted from the spot the moment he laid eyes on her, helpless and about to die.

"RUBY-CHAN!"

All eyes turned to Shinji as, he dashed towards her, momentarily shocking the girls and the wolves near Ruby.

"SHINJI?!"

"HAAAAA!"

He leapt into the air and made a massive flying kick, slamming into the wolf nearest to Ruby and knocking it back. He quickly placed himself in between the tiny girl and the pack, standing protectively in front her.

"Shinji what are you doing?! Get out of here!" Ruby said fearfully, afraid for the man's life.

"You didn't leave me behind, so I'm not leaving you behind either!" He shot back, still standing firmly in front of the attackers. "I'm the same as you… I fight to protect others, so other people won't get hurt! Leaving you behind would be even worse than dying for me!" He turned back towards the enemy, glaring at them. His hands clenched into determined fists as he steeled himself for battle. "So that's why… I going to protect you!"

Shinji shifted his right foot forward into a fighting stance. The wolves, all howled and shot straight for him.

These Beowolves were naught but cubs. Their hides were not as thick nor were their minds or claws as sharp as their older brethren. Even then, for a normal human, it might have been enough. For a man who, even in his weak body, managed to fight and fend off powerful Mirror Monsters? Maybe he had a chance.

One wolf came for him and slashed at him, but he merely stepped to the side and countered with a punch straight for gut and a push kick that knocked it back. The other wolf tried to slash his face, but he merely shoulder checked it and did another combo. The wolf that got nailed in the face by his kick, finally got up and tried to leap towards him to slice him again, but Shinji's attack on its last companion stunned it enough that he was actually able to grab it. He moved behind it and shoved it into the way, sending both wolves tumbling into the ground in a confused heap.

On and on they came. Shinji kept beating them back, evading as many attacks as he could. He stood valiantly in the face of odds impossible for a normal human.

The spider saw Shinji do this, and something within it awakened. A far-off memory that affected its mind, behind the mindless animal instincts and the monstrous power it absorbed.

It knew this man. It very much wanted to kill this man.

The spider let off an enraged growl before it stopped its barrage of spikes on the three girls and pounded on the shield with its claws, breaking the barrier down and stunning Weiss. The other two girls were forced to defend her as it leapt towards their defenceless friends.

The spider landed in front of Shinji, creating a tremendous impact that caught him off-guard. The spider let off another low groan as Shinji's eyes widened once again. Without a second thought Shinji threw himself in front of Ruby as the spider fired a barrage of shots, the spikes impaling his entire body and causing Ruby to scream.

"SHINJI, NO!"

Shinji could barely stand upright anymore. The other wolves kept snarling at him, all ready to pounce on him, and the spider let out the same low growl as it moved to take its revenge. His entire body was burning with agonizing pain once again, but he grit his teeth and refused to move from his spot.

Ruby struggled to get out, begging and pleading him to abandon her. "Shinji, stop, just get out of here, you're going to die!"

"No… Way…" He could barely breathe, and blood seeped out of his mouth at every word. "I failed to protect so many people… I'm not letting that happen again!"

The wolves all howled and tried to pounce on him again, while the spider let out another rain of spikes. Tears welled up in Ruby's as she screamed for him to move.

"SHINJI!"

* * *

_Shinji felt he was hallucinating again. He was here again, in that strange, black plane where the only thing that surrounded him was darkness, and the only light was a small patch that shined at his feet._

_"It can't be…"_

_But it was. He saw him again. That powerful creature that was one of his closest allies in the war that changed his life forever._

_"Dragreder…"_

_Dragreder circled around him once again. Just like he did a lifetime ago, the dragon gazed at him with those fierce yellow eyes that glowed in the darkness. But before, he was gauging the insignificant man's worth as a master, and Shinji was awed at the beast that acknowledged him._

_Now, the Unrivaled Dragon was asking him if he would do it again. Shinji looked him straight in the eye, and nodded once._

_"Let's go."_

_With a mighty roar, Dragreder coiled himself around his master, and engulfed his body in a shining light._

* * *

The wolves and the projectiles were all thrown back as an explosion of energy filled the forest with light. The spider recognized this presence and jumped back in shock. Ruby was temporarily blinded by the sudden brightness, causing her to close her eyes to protect her sight. When she opened them again, she was rendered speechless by what she saw.

A man with a crested helmet stood in front of her. He was wearing a red bodysuit, while his arms and legs were covered with pads that covered his limbs, and around his waist was a belt of pure chrome. He was armored with a silver breastplate, with intricate linings that went up to the base of his neck and slotted hardpoints all over his body. A gauntlet in the shape of a dragon's mouth rested on his arm.

"Shinji?" Ruby asked softly, awed by the sight. The man turned his head towards her. She couldn't see his face anymore, covered as it was by a grilled, iron mask, and his eyes, glowing as red as the monsters he was fighting, betrayed no emotion.

Yet she didn't feel afraid at all. She could _feel_ the presence of the man she was protecting mere minutes ago, who protected her mere seconds ago.

"Don't worry Ruby-chan," Shinji told her, and despite the fact that he was wearing a mask she could see the determined expression on his face. "You were right. Whatever happened to me before doesn't matter. Right now, I'm alive." He faced his enemies, glaring at them with the same glowing red eyes they had. He shifted his right foot forward and raised a clenched fist. "That's why, I'm not going to die. I'm going to live so I can fight… So I can protect you!"

**Alive A Life-Kamen Rider Ryuki OST**

The wolves all growled and charged straight for him. The first one that came leapt for him. With a defiant cry, Shinji swung his fist straight towards its face. His tremendous strength actually caused the wolf to fly all the way to the other side of the clearing, crashing into a tree and falling to the ground, limp.

Ruby stared slack-jawed as the man who had just been impaled mere seconds ago, the man who had risked his life to protect her, suddenly gained the strength to kill a Beowolf with his bare hands.

All the other wolves that tried to do the same met the same fate. He ducked under the next attacker and slammed it to the ground smashed its gut, followed that with a spin kick to the face of the wolf right behind him, and threw the stunned canine into another one of his companions before stomping on their heads.

As the wolves continued snarling at him and tried to find an opening, Shinji slid the upper jaw of his gauntlet down and drew a strange card from his belt, an orange one with the image of a curved sword. He loaded it into his gauntlet and cocked the gauntlet once more.

**"Sword Vent."**

The gauntlet actually announced the name of the card, and to Ruby's shock the very same sword, a curved silver blade with a golden dragon's emblem above its red guard, fell out of the sky and into Shinji's hand. Shinji slashed the nearest wolf, and it fell from the gaping wound it received across its chest. He kicked the nearest wolf and slayed it the same way.

He was untouchable. Anything that dared to get near him was smashed in the face, slammed with powerful kicks or sliced to death.

As smoking corpses surrounded Shinji, breathing heavily from the strain on his body, he immediately moved towards Ruby and cut her free. She dropped to the ground, perfectly standing and unhurt.

"Ruby-chan… Are you OK…?" Ruby stared at her savior at the concerned question. He looked positively heroic in his armor, his silver breastplate and its intricate designs glistening in the moonlight, and his grilled helm had beautiful golden lines and the symbol of a dragon's face carved into the top. Yet, when she saw him holding his chest and letting out heavy breaths, she suddenly became reminded that he got hurt protecting her.

"How could you say that?! You just got impaled! How could you be so reckless?!" She berated him, fearful for his life.

Shinji let out a pained laugh at her concerned question. "Sorry… I tend to do that…"

The spider broke free from its trance and let out a low growl once again. Shinji and Ruby turned towards the monster and held their weapons out, ready to face whatever it threw at them. But before it could do anything, several bullets and ice projectiles hit its body and face before a massive punch knocked it down.

The rest of team RWBY made their way to the red duo, and Yang hugged her sister in relief. "Oh Ruby, I'm so glad you're alright!"

"Yang, don't worry, I'm fine…"

Shinji smiled at them and let out a relieved breath from behind his mask. Weiss and Blake looked at him suspiciously and uncomfortably, and he gave them a confused tilt of his head. "What is it?"

Blake turned away from him as she spoke, her voice and soft. "It's just your mask…"

"Are you a member of the White Fang?" Weiss said, eyes narrowed at him. When he tilted his head in confusion even more, she sighed while Blake exhaled in relief. "Good enough, I guess."

"Bah, no time for being suspicious Weiss. Wouldn't even care if he was," Yang smiled at him, her voice incredibly thankful. "You saved my sister again Shinji. I can't thank you enough for that. Couldn't you have worn that armor a little quicker though?"

Shinji almost laughed at that. "Thought I was dead… Didn't think I could still do it…"

All the girls widened their eyes as Shinji nearly lost his balance and dropped his sword, and it disappeared into nothingness. "Shinji!" Ruby immediately caught him before he fell, and her voice grew genuinely afraid. "You're really hurt! We have to get you out of here!"

"No, it's OK…" he replied, standing up on his own. "I can still fight."

"Don't be stupid," Weiss berated him. "We saw you get shot several times. Whatever that strange armor of yours is, we can't risk you dying. We're getting you back to Beacon and getting you treated now."

"No, we can't do that!" He pleaded. "We have to kill that thing now! It'll go after Ruby-chan if we do!"

"What?" Ruby asked, confused by what he said, but the desperate way he said it made all of them listen. "What do you mean Shinji?"

"Ruby-chan, it's after you right now," Shinji answered, his voice completely serious. "Even if we run away, it's never going to stop. It's going to follow you wherever you go, and it's not going to stop until _it kills you_!"

Ruby widened her eyes in fear of the scenario Shinji painted, Yang tightened her fists, while Weiss narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about? That thing has aged already! No Grimm that old would be stupid enough to follow us and charge straight for a Huntsman Academy, let alone to go straight for her!"

"But it doesn't need to, does it?" Blake suggested grimly. "That spider came out from inside a tree. Who's to say it can't phase in and come out from anything else? It doesn't have to charge straight for the Academy if it can just go in and sneak up on any of us and take us out one by one, does it?"

Yang grit her teeth in anger while Weiss widened her eyes at Blake's suggestion. Ruby looked towards Shinji's pleading to them from behind his mask. "But Shinji… You need help."

She could feel the smile that he wore, even if she couldn't see his face. "Don't worry. I told you already remember? I have live if I want to fight, and I have to fight if I want to protect people, so I'm not going to die."

Weiss shook her head with a resigned sigh. "He IS just like you, isn't he?"

The spider got up again and growled, alerting all of them to danger. Yang and Blake got to work deflecting the projectiles that were fired at them with their weapons, blocking them with punches and swings from a kusarigama. Blake faced her leader her expression stern. "Your orders Ruby! Make it quick!"

Ruby heard the quiet plea in his voice, and nodded seriously. "Alright. You beat this thing before, right? We tried to destroy those red spots by attacking it from the front and back, but we couldn't break through its defense…"

"I can handle that…" He answered easily. He took out another card from his belt, loaded it into his gauntlet, and activated it.

**"Strike Vent."**

The girls all started at the sudden weapon announcement, and even moreso when a gauntlet in the shape of a dragon's head materialized on his right arm. "Where did that sound come from? Where did that WEAPON come from? What just happened?"

"Not important right now…" Shinji answered. "I can break through with this."

"Um, Shinji, I love a good punch as much as anybody, but I don't think that'll really help right now," Yang suggested.

"But you don't mind if I can shoot fire, right?" He answered, and Yang widened her eyes in glee and comprehension. He faced the rest of the girls. "Do what you did before. We can win with this now."

The girls nodded at him and set their weapons at the ready. Shinji walked forward and shouted at their snarling enemy. "Oy, you stupid bastard! Try to block this one!"

The spider growled and tried to charge straight for him, but Yang distracted it with a barrage of more fireballs. Shinji then pulled his fist back as fire gathered in his gauntlet, then he punched forward as he released it with a mighty shout.

A massive fireball shot forth from Shinji's gauntlet, and the spider's pincers couldn't handle the sudden force.

"GO, GO, GO!"

Weiss released the ice projectiles she was building up, every single spike hitting their red targets with pinpoint precision and causing the low growls of the spider to become horrifying screams. But the girls were merciless. Blake and Ruby sped through its legs and slashed through all of them in one fluid motion. They leapt on its back before it could react, slicing every single one of its limbs off and jumping back towards their teammates with one massive combined slash. The spider screamed in agony, paralyzed with pain.

Yang saw the moment. Pumping her gauntlets one more time, Yang bolted forward and jumped into the air. She then turned around and shot herself towards the spider. Speeding towards the nightmarish monstrosity, her hair blazed with raging fire, her eyes glowed an angry red, and all her rage was concentrated into a single fist.

_"You tried to kill my teammates, tried to kill my sister, tried to kill the one who saved her life,"_ She thought, her blood boiling at the very thought. _"Try coming back from THIS, you eight-legged MONSTER!"_

The spider could only let out a tiny whimper before Yang's fist smashed into its face, knocking it into the other side of the forest as a mighty crash echoed all throughout.

***Scene Break***

Shinji breathed heavily as soon as he fired the Drag-Claw, his body heaving up and down.

The girls all moved to check on him as soon as they finished with their roles, even Weiss, who almost looked as tired as he did as she leaned on her rapier. "A most unusual weapon…" Blake nodded her head in agreement, but said nothing that could be added to that statement.

Ruby looked at him, awe mixed with worry in her eyes. "That was a pretty good shot Shinji."

Yang arrived soon after, and she whistled at him, impressed. "I almost feel a little inadequate compared to that thing."

"You… Activated a Super Mode… And punched a giant spider in the face… Twice…" He shot back lightheartedly.

Yang shrugged and smirked at him. "Eh, gotta get my licks in somehow." Her hair stopped glowing, and her eyes went back to their usual lilac color, then she smiled. "Ah well, at least we can go back now…"

But it wasn't over yet. The spider's inhuman groan filled their ears once again, and the group turned to it with dread.

"Oh COME ON! It STILL isn't dead?!" Yang cried out in frustration.

Even worse, there were even more wolves with it now. They all growled at them, intent on finishing them off.

Blake unsheathed both of her swords, looking tense at the situation around her. "What now? We can't take on all of them like this…"

The words trailed off as Shinji fell to his knees, the Drag-Claw disappearing as his body started shutting down. His sight became blurry, and he could barely hear anything as he looked around him, but what he saw was enough.

He saw Yang and Blake standing in front of them, ready to fight to the death to make sure he got out alright. He saw Weiss, making an effort to stand up and try to take a stance for his sake. He saw Ruby's scared face, trying to assure him everything was alright.

He felt a pressure on his arm, and he saw that the Drag-Visor had actually opened itself for him, ready for one last card.

_"Dragreder… So you wanna finish this huh?_" He looked around him again. He saw kids risking their lives for him, girls that were doing things they didn't deserve to do, for someone who didn't deserve their effort.

He saw an innocent little girl, walking the same path as him, dying before she could live a full life.

_"I've got to live a little longer… And fight for their sake…"_

He stood up as all the monsters started charging at them. He walked past the girls before they could react, and Ruby was caught completely off-guard by his recovery. "Shinji?" She noticed him drawing another card, and she her mind went cold. "Stop it! Don't push yourself, Shinji, you might-!"

"It's OK Ruby-chan," he said to her, his voice so calm. "I'll finish this now."

"SHINJI!"

He loaded the card, and the Drag-Visor pulled itself up for him.

**"Final Vent."**

"AGHHHHHHH!"

Shinji's agonized scream was accompanied by a mighty roar that silenced everything in the clearing. Right behind Shinji, a gigantic mechanical dragon materialized. Its scales were of cold steel, its eyes had no pupils but glowed with the ferocity of the legendary creature it was, and its tail was shaped like a wicked curved sword.

"Haaaaaa...!"

Shinji squared his legs and thrust his hands outward, left over right. The dragon spiralled around him copying the movements of his arms.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

Shinji screamed as he dashed forward, the dragon following him with another roar. As soon as he got close enough, he jumped into the air.

"HAH!"

At the peak of his jump, his dragon blasted him with a jet of its fiery breath, rocketing him towards the spider as he extended his leg for a massive kick as he was engulfed in burning fire. Despite having no face, it radiated fear as it saw its death once again.

Shinji crashed into the spider with literally explosive force, the tremendous impact heard all around the Emerald forest. Everything around the spider was bathed in burning flames, and when Shinji landed, no monster remained, and everything was quiet once again. The only sounds were the crackling of burning cinders.

Shinji clenched his outstretched hand, and turned it into a fist.

_"Yosha."_

***Scene Break***

"Oh my god…"

Those were the only things Weiss could say at the unbelievable spectacle she just witnessed. That gigantic spider monster was gone, along with the entire pack of Beowolves that came with it. All finished in a single, powerful attack.

"I'm not the only one who saw that, am I?" Yang suggested quietly, tempted to rub her eyes. "You all just saw a giant robot dragon breathe fire on him for a flying kick so hard it made things explode, right?" Blake, her amber eyes opened to their fullest and her jaw dropped, simply nodded her head, dumbstruck at the sight. "Good, so I'm not just incredibly tired and sleepy and didn't hallucinate that because we were all about to die. Right."

Ruby walked towards Shinji, who simply stood still after he clenched his fist and the dragon disappeared. She slowed down as she got closer, taking care not to step on the flames and honestly unsure of what to say. "Shinji?"

"Hey Ruby-chan…" He answered, his voice soft. "Did you like that deathblow attack? Pretty cool huh?"

"Are you kidding me?!" The other girls caught up with Shinji, and Weiss simply shouted with how incredulous it was. "You summoned a robot dragon AND HAD IT BREATHE FIRE ON YOU! The only deathblow from that attack is the one that should be killing YOU!"

"It doesn't hurt actually," Shinji assured her. "I've done it a lot of times already."

"That doesn't matter right now!" Ruby interrupted. "We have to get you back to Beacon already. We can answer things later."

"Nah, there's no need…" Shinji said to them. "You can just leave me here, I'd just slow you down…"

"Shinji, it's OK," Blake told him. "We already told you, it doesn't matter anymore. You can get a second chance. And after everything you did, we think you deserve it."

"It makes me really happy to hear you say that," He told them, his voice full of sincere gratefulness, "but it's too late for me. I'm already dead."

Yang went cold at that, and she tried to force out a laugh. "You're kidding right? That wasn't funny the first time, and it isn't funny now!"

To the team's horror, the armor slowly disintegrated from Shinji's body, revealing a body full of bloody holes and a freshly bleeding mouth. He slowly fell to the ground, and Ruby rushed to his side, her face full of fear. "SHINJI!"

"Ah man, this is just so embarrassing…" he said as he coughed out more blood. "I got resurrected and died in five minutes… I really am pathetic…"

"Don't talk anymore Shinji, stay with me, please don't die!" Ruby begged him, holding his hand while tears flowed from her eyes. "Why were you so STUPID? Why did you push yourself so much for us, for me? WHY?!"

Shinji looked at the crying girl with a bright smile. "Because… I'm the same as you…" He coughed out. "I fight to protect people… so other people won't get hurt…" Ruby's eyes lost all color when he said that, and she couldn't say anything else. "I'm so glad… That I was able to protect you… You can fight to protect other people now…"

"No…" She pleaded with him. "Don't go, please don't go Shinji, please don't die!" Ruby's tears fell on his bloody jacket as by her side, her teammates were unable to do anything. Weiss covered her mouth in grief, Blake closed her eyes and looked towards the ground in regret, while Yang looked at her sister in Shinji, helpless. "I'm sorry… I failed you Shinji, I'm so, so sorry…"

"You didn't fail Ruby-chan," he replied brightly. "You saved me. I got to protect somebody one last time… And now I know that what I did was right." He clenched her hand tightly. "Thank you, Ruby-chan." He looked towards the moonlit sky as his vision started to blur. "You know… Maybe I WILL go to heaven this time…"

He couldn't hear anything anymore. But unlike last time he died, his body felt so warm and filled with light.

_ "Yeah… Heaven feels good… Thank you, Ruby-chan…"_

The darkness engulfed him as he closed his eyes, and soon he felt the bliss of a peaceful sleep.

* * *

_Turn to your dreams!_

_Even if I'm still weak_

_I want to make sure_

_That I still have the will to live!_

_-Alive a Life_


End file.
